HTC may have abandoned its smartwatch plans

HTC One Wear smartwatch
Guess we won't be seeing this after all

Maybe the competition got too hot, or maybe costs were simply too high, but no matter what the reason, word is HTC's smartwatch is no more.

The company had been rumored all year to be developing its own Android Wear smartwatch, but now those plans have been canned, according to Pocket-lint.

The site's sources said the HTC smartwatch, which apparently won't be called the HTC One Wear, since it doesn't exist, is cancelled "for the time being," citing no one reason in particular.

However the sources said, "rising costs and a lack of wow factor" played a part in the One Wear's cancellation.

Dust in the watch

The HTC smartwatch rumors really began in earnest when the company itself said it was working on a wearable to be released in 2014.

We've caught glimpses of the watch here and there, but there's been little concrete information, and now it appears we may know why.

Competition in the smartwatch arena is indeed heating up, with companies including Samsung, Motorola, LG, Asus, Sony, and others all trying their hands at building a wearable people actually want.

But it's really Apple's mysterious iWatch - believed to be scheduled for arrival during a September 9 event - that may shape the smartwatch future.

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.

Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.